Every time I have an ebay frenzy I always get the postage wrong. I have previously wildly over priced postage and then felt awful at the post office when it is clear from the sticker that I have made a fortune from overcharging. The next time I ebay I am mindful of this and go all coy about charging at all and underestimate and end up out of pocket. Last time I gave a discount to someone for buying 3 items off me and she sent me a cheque cos she’d looked at what I’d paid to send it and realised it was about two quid less than she’d paid me and felt bad herself!
So this time I thought I’d got it about right charging 2 quid a go for sending pairs of jeans. But no! I sent five parcels this morning which would have netted me a tenner in p&p charges and it cost me £13 to send them 🙁
I know I should weigh stuff first and then look on the royal mail website to find out how much it will cost then factor in a bit extra for packaging materials but thats a right faff! I think I have it sussed this time though, I’ve looked at what others are charging for similar items to the ones I’m listing and gone with that.
Sigh!
I just weigh on the kitchen scales, and it really isn’t a faff 😉 I’m always amazed at the people who will argue about the postage though. I tend only to charge at cost, and use re-cycled packaging whenever possible, so I only ever charge more if it’s sitting right on the balance point on the kitchen scales, in case it tips into the next bracket on the PO scales. Now I’ve started to take paypal though, I’m going to have to be smarter about adding a bit on. I started to take it after all the auctions were on line, so I felt I couldn’t up the P+P, and I’ve had about £7 in charges, which I expected, but is annoying none the less. However, the advantage is most people have at least paid already for ones that ended yesterday, whereas I’m still chasing 4 payment from 10 days ago. My point? Not a clue…..
I can’t be bothered weighing stuff, but I’ve been stung too so I normally do it. But now I tend to stick it on the scales, if it’s just over 400g say I’ll put the price of up to 450g and then some for the paypal charges. Only about 30p or so, which could be construed as handling I suppose. It’s still nromally much less than what others who are selling similar things are. (She says after sticking leappad books on at £1.00 postage and nosying at Joyce’s auctions and seeing she’d put soem on too with 50p postage! Ah well *normally* I’m under the going rate!)
Did you see what I got for some of those books Kirsty??? More than I paid for them, in most cases!
yup – I am nosy though 😉 mine seem to be doing well too, but I’ll reserve judgement for a few more hours till they finish!
I wouldn’t feel too bad about postage beign a bit over what you pay. Obviously you don’t want it to be wildly overpriced, but they can clearly see the postage when they bid so if they are happy with it then they’ll bid. If they aren’t happy then they shouldn’t. I know lots of people complain about it, but I’ve never had a complaint to myself about it. Just my 2p’s worth. Again 😉
What’s your ID, anyway, Nic? And your’s Kirsty? Just so I can be nosy too 😉
in my usual non id protecty way its nicgoddard
Ah, I posted 6 parcels today and have just checked the p&p – I charged about 3 quid more than I paid. I try to use recycled packing stuff, but sometimes I do need to buy new bubble wrap or envelopes, so I like to make a small profit on the p&p!
All those 6 were Paypalled though (finished last night) and that cost me about £4 in charges, so it evens out anyway.
Sometimes I weigh things on the kitchen scales, sometimes I look at other listings (and usually end up charging less than them too!).
Last Christmas, C wrote a few listings, and took the p&p from other listings, and 3 of them ended up being about 3 or 4 quid over what it actually cost, so I emailed the people to let them know and ask them how to send a refund (they must have paid by cheque, or I wasn’t sure of their email address). One person didn’t reply, one said to keep it as a Christmas bonus (which made me smile lots!), and one said, wow thanks, and was really nice about it in his feedback.
Not sure what the point of all that was either! Better to overcharge than under, I reckon, no point ending up out of pocket 🙂
LOL at Nic. I should have tried that. instead I got all sleuth like, and tried all your various passwords, combinations of your kids names, yahoo aliases and all sorts 🙂
Yeah, I tried monsterteeny and nicgee, but thought that was too obvious (says me with another totally obvious one!).
You know that cartoon where there’s a man talking to the dog and the dog just hears ‘blah blah’ and his name. That’s me reading about ebay and p&p. My brain just goes ‘wooerhrrrhhhh’ and grinds to a halt for some reason.
blah blah ebay blah blah postage blah blah packing
Good luck to everyone though from a bear of very little brain where ebay is concerned.
If I buy the skirt, do I get the toe? 😉
working on the basis that as soon as someone buys something off me they get my full name and address anyway I can’t be arsed being all cagey about ebay security really. And if you all want to look and see which of my kids possessions and clothes I might have once worn I’m after flogging then that’s fine too!
Did find you last night thought Alison, working on the basis that you don’t tend to be overly bothered about secrecy online either and found you straight away! 😉
mine is kirstykbart 🙂
I always weigh things – not a huge faff, and then 50p so can offer a good postage discount [and takes into consideration paypal]
elinorsmum [suprise!]
I never weigh, as I buy more than I sell I guess I know from the other side! Some people really take the piss with it and I won’t bid on those ones.
Jeans are about a fiver to post so would say at least £5.50 postage, they aren’t just paying for postage but also your time. It’s your job 🙂